I have a growing library of TKD books as I am sure that most of you do as well. I was looking for new editions and I cam across Benko's book on TKD defense against weapons on Ebay. It was cheap so I bought it. I was wondering about his other books. This is James Benko that heads up the International Taekwon-Do association and other organizations. Has anyone read his books? Would you recommend them? ThanksITA

I can find nothing on his lineage. I can find lots of information where he has multiple bbs but again no lineage on any of them. Does anyone know if Benko was ever a member of the ITF? Is so then do you have any pertinent details?

I posted this on another forum that I know ITFunity uses. I will see if he has any answers. I emailed Benko but no reply as of yet. I have heard that if you order something that it takes six weeks for it to arrive and that emails go unanswered. If he doesn't answer the emails of paying customers then it is unlikely he is going to answer mine. I will keep you posted if anything comes up.

I know he has been around for a long time. At 1st his org was called the Midwest TKD Association in the 1970s. I would imagine that he trained at a time with a Korean who was affiliated with doing the ITF Tuls, called hyungs back then. Whether or not that instructor was a member of the ITF & issued ITF certs is another story. I do not think that GM Benko himself was a "card carrying" member of the ITF & yes the ITFers do have cards to show that they are ITF. He may have had an ITF BB cert or 2, but not sure. I would gather that once he had his own org & that was decades ago, he remained independent. I do know that he did met Gen. Choi at some point years ago. Not sure if they tried to get him to join. It was possible that he just attended a training session(s), just not sure.I personally never saw a need to get his training manuals, as they would have had little benefit to me, as I follow the 15 volumes. I will google that instructors name.

"I personally never saw a need to get his training manuals, as they would have had little benefit to me, as I follow the 15 volumes." as do I but I am a confirmed bibliophile so I can't resist buying books on my interests (it doesn't help that my training is in philosophy). I keep asking if one can have too many books.